"It is acknowledged by your books, and by report out of your own quarters," said Governor Washington, in reply to Fairfax, "that the King is in some of your armies. That granted, it may be easy for you to procure his Majesty's commands for the disposal of this garrison. Till then, I shall make good the trust reposed in me. As for conditions, if I shall be necessitated, I shall make the best I can. The worst I know, and fear not; if I had, the profession of a soldier had not been begun, nor so long continued, by your Excellency's humble servant."

The King's fortunes were now desperate; but the siege was maintained, even against all hope, for nearly three months, when honorable conditions were granted.

That this Sir Henry Washington was the same person, whose name is conjectured above to be entered in the last Visitation Book in the Herald's College, the circumstantial evidence is strong. In Baker's pedigree of this branch of the family, Henry Washington is stated to have been eight years old in 1618. But in the original book at the College I found the entry to be three years. The error was probably occasioned by a misprint of a figure. According to the original entry, therefore, he would have been thirty-one years old at the siege of Worcester, in 1646. He was nephew to John and Lawrence Washington, who emigrated to America about eleven years after the siege of Worcester, and of course first cousin to General George Washington's grandfather.* The ancestors of General Washington in a direct line are traced to Whitfield and Warton in the County of Lancaster. Whitaker, in his History of Northamptonshire, says of the parish church at Warton; "The tower appears to be contemporary with the restoration of the church, and on the north side of the door are the arms of Washington, an old family of considerable property within the parish; whence it may be inferred, that one of the name either built the steeple at his own expense, or was at least a considerable benefactor to the work." Baker gives a pedigree of the family in Lancaster County for three generations. At what time the migra

*This Henry Washington is doubtless the same mentioned by Clarendon, as having distinguished himself at the taking of Bristol, in 1643, three years before the siege of Worcester. Though the division," says Clarendon, "led on by Lord Grandison was beaten off, Lord Grandison himself being hurt; and the other, led on by Colonel Bellasis, likewise had no better fortune; yet Colonel Washington, with a less party, finding a place in the curtain, between the places assailed by the other two, weaker than the rest, entered, and quickly made room for the horse to follow.". History of the Rebellion, Book VII.

tion of some of the members to the south took place is uncertain. The earliest notice we have on the subject is in 1532, when Lawrence Washington, son of John Washington of Warton, was mayor of Northampton. His mother was a daughter of Robert Kilson of Warton, and sister to Sir Thomas Kilson, alderman of London. From this date the genealogy is unbroken. Upon the surrender of the monasteries in 1538, the manor of Sulgrave near Northampton, which belonged to the Priory of St. Andrew, was given up to the crown; and the next year this manor, and other lands in the vicinity, were granted to Lawrence Washington. Among the manuscripts of Sir Isaac Heard I found a letter to him from Mr. Wykam, dated at Sulgrave, August 15th, 1793, from which the following extract is taken.

"There is in our parish church on a stone slab a brass plate, with this inscription in the old black character. • Here lyeth buried the bodys of Lawrence Wasshington, Gent. and Anne his wyf, by whome he had issue four sons and seven daughters; which Lawrence dyed ye day of An. 15-; and Anne deceased 6th day of October, An. Dm. 1564.' On the same stone is also a shield much defaced, and effigies in brass of the four sons and seven daughters. Over the four sons is a figure larger than the rest, which is supposed to be the father's effigy. There was formerly one over the seven daughters; but this is gone. The arms of the Wasshington family (so spelled on six of the seven) were copied from some painted glass of the old manor-house in this village."

The death of this Lawrence Washington, according to Baker, occurred on the 19th of February, 1584. The manor of Sulgrave descended to his eldest son, Robert. It was long held in the family, and thence derived the name of Washington's Manor. The first Lawrence Washington of Sulgrave had eleven children, four sons and seven daughters. His eldest son Robert was twice married, and had sixteen children, ten sons and six daughters. Lawrence, the eldest son of Robert Washington, had fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters. The eldest son was Sir William Washington of Packington, who married the half-sister of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, as stated above, and was the father (as is supposed) of Sir Henry Washington, the defender of Worcester. The second and fourth of these sons were John and Lawrence Washington, who emigrated to Virginia about the year 1657. They were great-grandsons of the first Lawrence of Sulgrave; and John was the great-grandfather of General WashTT*

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ington. These particulars may be seen more at large in Baker's pedigree of the family inserted hereafter.

The second son of the first Lawrence Washington of Sulgrave was Sir Lawrence Washington of Garsdon, County of Wilts. His granddaughter, Elizabeth Washington, who appears to have been an only child and heiress, married Robert Shirley, Baron Ferrers of Chartley, afterwards Earl Ferrers and Viscount Tamworth. She died in 1693. The family names were united, and Washington Shirley, a son of Robert, was the second Earl Ferrers. Some of the other Earls since that time have borne the same

name.

The history of the American branch of the family, as far as it is known, is contained in President Washington's letter to Sir Isaac Heard, in reply to his inquiries on the subject.

GEORGE WASHINGTON TO SIR ISAAC HEARD.

"SIR,

"Philadelphia, 2 May, 1792.

"Your letter of the 7th of December was put into my hands by Mr. Thornton, and I must request that you will accept my acknowledgments, as well for the polite manner in which you express your wishes for my happiness, as for the trouble you have taken in making genealogical collections relative to the family of Washington.

"This is a subject to which I confess I have paid very little attention. My time has been so much occupied in the busy and active scenes of life from an early period of it, that but a small portion could have been devoted to researches of this nature, even if my inclination or particular circumstances should have prompted to the inquiry. I am therefore apprehensive, that it will not be in my power, circumstanced as I am at present, to furnish you with materials to fill up the sketch which you have sent me, in so accurate a manner as you could wish. We have no office of record in this country, in which exact genealogical documents are preserved; and very few cases, I believe, occur, where a recurrence to pedigrees for any considerable distance back has been found necessary to establish such points, as may frequently arise in older countries.

"On comparing the tables, which you sent, with such documents as are in my possession, and which I could readily obtain from another branch of the family with whom I am in the habit

of correspondence, I find it to be just. I have often heard others of the family, older than myself, say, that our ancestor, who first settled in this country, came from some one of the northern counties of England; but whether from Lancashire, Yorkshire, or one still more northerly, I do not precisely remember.

"The arms enclosed in your letter are the same, that are held by the family here; though I have also seen, and have used, as you may perceive by the seal to this packet, a flying griffin for the

crest.

If you can derive any information from the enclosed lineage, which will enable you to complete your table, I shall be well pleased in having been the means of assisting you in those researches, which you have had the politeness to undertake, and shall be glad to be informed of the result, and of the ancient pedigree of the family, some of whom I find intermixed with that of Ferrers.

"Lawrence Washington, from whose Will you enclosed an abstract, was my grandfather. The other abstracts, which you sent, do not, I believe, relate to the family of Washington in Virginia; but of this I cannot speak positively.

"With due consideration, I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, "GEORGE WASHINGTON."

PARTICULARS RESPECTING THE WASHINGTON FAMILY, ENCLOsed IN THE ABOVE LETTER.

"In the year 1657, or thereabouts, and during the usurpation of Oliver Cromwell, John and Lawrence Washington, brothers, emigrated from the North of England,* and settled at Bridge's Creek, on the Potomac River, in the County of Westmoreland. But from whom they descended, the subscriber is possessed of no document to ascertain.

"John Washington was employed as general against the Indians in Maryland, and, as a reward for his services, was made a colonel; and the parish wherein he lived was called after him. He married Anne Pope, and left issue two sons, Lawrence and John, and one daughter, Anne, who married Major Francis Wright.

*

This tradition probably arose from the circumstance, that John Washington owned an estate at South Cave, in the East Riding of the County of York, where he resided before he came to America.

The time of his death the subscriber is not able to ascertain; but it appears that he was interred in a vault, which had been erected at Bridge's Creek.

"Lawrence Washington, his eldest son, married Mildred Warner, daughter of Colonel Augustine Warner, of Gloucester County, by whom he had two sons, John and Augustine, and one daughter, named Mildred. He died in 1697, and was interred in the family vault at Bridge's Creek.

"John Washington, the eldest son of Lawrence and Mildred, married Catharine Whiting, of Gloucester County, where he settled, died, and was buried. He had two sons, Warner and Henry; and three daughters, Mildred, Elizabeth, and Catharine, all of whom are dead.

"Warner Washington married first Elizabeth Macon, daughter of Colonel William Macon of New Kent County, by whom he had one son, who is now living, and bears the name of Warner. His second wife was Hannah, youngest daughter of the Honorable William Fairfax, by whom he left two sons, and five daughters, as follows; namely, Mildred, Hannah, Catharine, Elizabeth, Louisa, Fairfax, and Whiting. The three oldest of the daughters are married; Mildred to Throckmorton, Hannah to - WhitNelson. After his second marriage,

ing, and Catharine to

he removed from Gloucester and settled in Frederic County, where he died in 1791.

Whiting of

"Warner Washington, his son, married Gloucester, by whom he has many sons and daughters; the eldest is called Warner, and is now nearly, if not quite, of age.

"Henry, the other son of John and Catharine Washington, married the daughter of Colonel Thacker, of Middlesex County, and died many years ago, leaving one son, Thacker, and two or three daughters.

"Thacker Washington married the daughter of Sir John Peyton, of Gloucester County, and lives on the family estate, left to his grandfather John, at Machodac, in the County of Westmoreland. He has several children.

"Mildred, daughter of John and Catharine, of Gloucester, was twice married, but never had a child. Elizabeth never was married. Catharine married Fielding Lewis, by whom she had a son and daughter. John, the eldest, is now living. Frances died

without issue.